Midnight Cry - Volume 01, Number 01

              THE MEW YORK
1 A A
THE ASTOe. iEMOXANP,
VOLUME I. NEW- YORK, NOVEMBER 17, 1842. NUMBER 1.
! Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie ;
though it tarry, wait for it ; because it will surely come, it will not tarry."
BY JOSHUJi Y. HUES. TWO CISTS.
MEMO'IR- OFWILLIAM MILLER.
& . —
WILLIAM MILLER was born at Pittsfield, Mass.,
Feb. 15, 1782. When he was four years of age,
Ms father removed to the lown of, Hampton,
Washington County, New. York, the present
residence of Mr. Miller. The country was
then new, and his means of education, till nine
years of age, were very small. His mother,
however, taught him to read, so that when he
^ as sent to the common school, he could read
in the Bible, Psalter, and an old Hymn Book,
which at that time constituted the whole of his
father's library. After his ninth year, he was
sent to school three months in the year, till he
was fourteen. During this time he was noted
by his companions as a prodigy for learning, as
they called it, particularly in, the branches of
spelling, reading, and writing. At the age of
fourteen, he became anxious to obtain books to
feaA The first history he obtained was Ro-
Mnson Crusoe ; and the first novel he ever saw
was Wobert Boyle. He read ( hem with avidity,
and being so much interested in them, Ke read
tletn many times over. He ifcleeri became still
more- anxious to obtain books, especially histo-
'? j$$ 3 and journals of travellers. A number of
gentlemen in the vicinity of his father's resi-ilncet
on being made acquainted with his love
, of realing, kindly offered him the privilege of
their private libraries, which he accepted with
much gratitude. Frpm this time till he was
twenty- one years of age, he was a most devoted
student of aifeient and modern history. The
names of his benefactors ought to be given in
this . place, as they deserve to be honored for
;^ llifiiLjitLorality. . andjlove^ of learning. One of
them was the Hon. Matthew Lyon, Representar
tive to CoAgress from Vermont, from 1794 to
1798. The others were Judge James Wither ell,
afterwards judge of Michigan Territory; and
Ahmnder Cruikshanks, Esq. of Whitehall, for-merly
of Scotland. By the kindness of these
» gentlemen,* he was enabled to store his mind
with a vast collection of historical facts, which
have since been of so much service to him in
I the illustration of the prophecies- Possessing
a strong mind and a retentive memory, he ap
propriated the contents of those gentlemen's
ibraries to his own use ; and even now,, after a
lapse of more than thirty years, it is astonishing
to observe the correctness of his frequent refer
ences to these historical facts and dates in his
extemporaneous lectures.
At the age of twenty- two he was married, and
settled in Poultney, Vt. Here he was still
favored with the privilege of pursuing his favor
I ite study ; having free access to a large public
If library. Here also he became acquainted with
the deistical writings of Voltaire, Hume, Paine,
Ethan Alien, and others. He studied them
clopely, and at length professedly became a
Deist." The principal men in the village were
Deists ; but, as a class, they were good citizens,
and as a general thing were moral, and of
deportment. With these he was asso
If,
elated about twelve years, in r% e defence of
deistical sentiments.
In the last'war with Great Britain, he received
a captain's commission in the United States'
service, and served in the army until the 25th
of June, 1815, after peace was declared. He
then moved to his present residence, Low
Hampton, where the year following, 1816, he
was converted from Deism to the Christian
faith, and united with the regular Baptist
church in that place, of which he is now a
member in good standing.
We gather the following facts relating to his
past history ajnd experience from his letters to
us on this subject. The following connected
account is made out from them, mostly in his
own words.
*' In my youth, between the years of seven
and ten, I wa& often concerned about the welfare
of my soul, particularly in relation to its future
destiny. I spent much time in trying to invent
some plan, whereby I might please God, when
brought into his immediate presence. Two
ways suggested themselves to me, which I tried.
One was, to be very good, to do nothing wrong,
tell no lies, and obey my parents. But I found
my resolutions were weak, and soon broken.
The other was to sacrifice, by giving up the
most cherished objects I possessed. But this
also failed me; so that I was never settled and
happy in mind, until I came to Jesus Christ.
While I was a Deist, I believed in a God, but I
could not, al I thought, believe the Bible was
the word of God, The many contradictions and
inconsistencies, which I thought could be
shown, made me suppose it to be a work of
designing men, whose object was la^ scla/ e
r tbe niing of man operate" OB their hopes and
fear*, -^ ith a view to aggrandize themselves.
The history of religion as it had been presented
to the world, and particularly by the historians
of the eighteenth century, was but a history of
blood, tyranny, and oppression, in which the
common people were the greatest sufferers. I
viewed it as a system of craft, rather than
of truth. Besides, the advocates of Christianity
admitted that the Bible was so dark and intri*
cate that no man could understand it. This
always was to me an inconsistent idea of God,
and even made the Bible appear more like the
oracles of the heathen gods, than like the
wisdom of the just and righteous God. To
give us the Scriptures to teach us the way of
eternal life, and at the same time clothe them
in a mantle of mysticism, so that no man could
understand them ! Reveal his will, which we
cannot understand, and then punish us for dis
obedience ! How can such a being be called
either wise or good ? These, and the like,
were my arguments Bible. In the
mean time, I continue^ itty- llfflfces, storing ify
mind with historical The mofl I
read, the more dreadfully ef did the cha^
racter of man appear. I discern no bright
spot in the history of the past. Those con
querors of the world, and heroes of history,
were apparently but demons in human form.
All the sorrow, suffering, and rnisery in the
world, seemed to be increased in proportion to
the power they obtained over their fellows. I
began to feel very distrustful of all men. In
this state of mind 1 entered the service of my
country, I fondly cherished the idea, that I
should find one bright spot at least in the
human character, as a star of hope, a love of
country PATRIOTISM. But two years in the
service was enough to convince me that I was
in error in this thing also. When I left the
service I had become completely disgusted with
man's public character. I retired from the busy
scenes of p. ublic life, in which I had been
engaged about ten years, and thought to seek
for that happiness, which had always eluded
my pursuit in my former occupations, in the
domestic circle. For a little space, a care and
burden was taken off from my mind; but after
a while I felt the need of some more active
employment. My life became too monotonous.
I had lost ail those pleasing prospects, which
in youth I expected to enjoy in riper years. It
appeared to me that there was nothing good on
earth. Those things in which I expected to
find some solid good had deceived me- I began
to think man was no more than a brute, and the
idea of hereafter was a dream annihilation
was a cold and chilling thought, and - accdtmta-bility
was sure destruction to all. The heavens
were as brass over my head, and the earth as
iron under my feet. ETERNITY! What was it?
And death, why was it ? The more I reasoned,
the further I was from demonstration. The
more I thought, the-^ more scattered were my
conclusions I tried to stop thinking., but rtw
thoughts would not be controlled. I was truly
wretched, but did not understand the cause. I
murmured and complained, but knew not of
whom. I felt that there was a* wrong, but
knew not how, or where to find the right. 1
mourned, but without hope. I continued in,
this state of mind for some months; at length,
when brought almost to despair, God by his
Holy Spirit opened my eyes. I saw Jesus as
a friend, and my only help, and the word of
God as the perfect rule of duty. Jesus Christ
became to me the chiefest among ten fho, usar* d,
and the Scriptures, which befctf e \ wstfe dark \
and contradictory, now becan^ eAHe Ifitap to toy I
feef and light to my path. Sly mind ibe^ ame : 1
settled and satisfied. I found the ! Lor( T God t^> i
be a Rock in the midst of the ocean of life/
The Bible now became my chiefIsttiajvisn£ I'
can truly say 1 searched it with i* reut delight.
I found the half was never told me. I won
dered why I nad not seen its beauty and glory
before, and marvelled that I could ever have
rejected it, T found everything revealed, that
my heart could desire, and a remedy for every
disease of the soul, 1 lost all ta^ te for other
reading, and applied my hejtft ; wisdom
God.
u i laid-. by.--; i^ commentari^ j^ ioririer views'
and and determined to read
try to understand for myself. I then began
the reading of the bible in a methodical. manner,